Method of finishing the ends and fixing ropes



Jan. 17, 1933. z P 1,894,389

METHOD OF-FIIiiSHING THE ENDS AND FIXING ROPES Filed Oct. 13. 1930 Fig. '1.

G E r! m, I I

'1 w E l- 5 Fig. 2

Patented Jan. 1&1933

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GEORG- ZAPF. OF COLOGNE, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO FELTEN & GUILLEAUME CARLS- WERK ACTIENGESELLSCHAFT, OF COLOGNE-MULHEIM', GERMANY METHOD OF FINISHING THE ENDS AND FIXING ROPFS Application filed October 13, 1930, Serial No.

For enabling ropes, for instance bridge ropes, to be fixed, it has already been pro-- posed to provide the ends of the ropes with heads. Hitherto this has been effected by slipping over the end of the rope a rope head made of steel, the inside of which is conical. 'Inside the conical part of the rope head the end of the rope is loosened to anextent corresponding to the length of the rope head and the separate wires are separated. After the separate wires have been tinned, the socalled splayed end is made, that is, the interior of the rope head in which are the separated wires of the rope end is filled with a lead alloy.

When a rope is provided in this way with rope heads and is used for instance as a bridge rope, the rope heads will be pushed somewhat over the rope ends on the load being first applied to the rope, as the splayed ends made in accordance with the method above described are in the first instance not sufficiently solid and are compressed on the rope being loaded for the first time. While it is possible to allow, when making the necessary calculations for the bridge andthe bridge ropes, for the amount by which the rope heads slip over the rope ends on the load being first applied to the rope, it would nevertheless be of advantage if, on the load being applied to the rope, there would be no displacement of the rope heads or only a very slight displacement.

The object of the present invention is to reduce to a minimum the slip of the rope heads when the load is first applied. For this purposethe splayed end in its manufacture is more rigidly joined by the period of cooling being extended. It is known that with a long period of cooling the casting becomes better and more secure than with rapid cooling. The splayed end is, therefore, made not in a. rope head or a mould of metal of good conductivity but by means of a mould of material of poor thermal conductivity so that the period of cooling of the alloy which is poured in is considerably lengthened and the casting itself is improved. After the socalled splayed end has been made by pouring metal, for instance lead, into the mould on to 488,465, and in Germany November 25, 1929.

th rope end, the mould is removed and for fixing the rope end a shackle preferably consisting of two parts is placed on the splayed end. The shackle is pressed firmly on the rope end by means of bolts. The shackle may be so constructed that when it is screwed on, the splayed end is more firmly compressed, so that, on the load being applied to the rope for the first time, a further compress on of the splayed end and a consequent slipping of the shackle is impossible.

The accompanying drawing shows an arrangement for carrying out the method ac.- cording to the invention. Fig. 1 shows a piece of rope and the rope end seen from the slde and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the rope in section and of the rope end. In both figures the rope is marked a. b is the. conical part of the rope end, in and about which a suitable material is poured so as to form the splayed end. 0 and c are the two halves of the shackle. The parts 0 and 0' are pressed together by bolts (Z and nuts 6.

The essential feature of the invention. does not reside in the device shown in the drawing, but in the described method, and the device used in applying the method according to the invention can thus differ from that shown Each half of the shackle can be made in two or more parts (see broken lines in Fig. 1 and the shackle maybe made in one part Instead of in two parts. This last constructional form is indicated in Fig. 2 by the broken line shown on the right-hand half ofthe figure, the flanges f, f being in this case omitted.

Vhat I claim is:

A method of finishing and securing the ends of ropes comprising spreading out the wires at the end of the rope, casting metal round the spread out wires allowing the cast end to cool slowly, rapid withdrawal of heat being avoided, removing the mold and fixing a shackle consisting of several parts around the end of the rope. A

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

G. ZAPF. 

